Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
- 10,864
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2 hours, 47 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States went on the counter-attack against Amnesty International, rejecting its charges of the torture of terror suspects and criticizing its lack of help in prosecuting deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
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State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed allegations by the Nobel Prize-winning rights group, which cited reports that US prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and elsewhere were subject to "torture and ill-treatment."
"Nobody is being tortured at Guantanamo Bay," McCormack told reporters when asked about the charges in Amnesty International's latest annual report.
He went on to point out Amnesty's role in documenting rights abuses during the 24 years of Saddam's rule before he was deposed by the Americans in 2003 and later captured and charged with crimes against humanity.
"But when it came time to put Saddam Hussein on trial, which is happening right now, they (Amnesty) are absent. They've done zero, zip, nothing, to assist in those efforts," McCormack said.
"So in terms of where they might focus some of their efforts, I would just offer the humble suggestion that they might follow through in actually assisting with or providing some support to this trial for what they acknowledge is one of the great human rights abusers of recent times."
McCormack said Amnesty could help the Iraqi authorities, currently trying Saddam for a massacre of Shiite villagers in the 1980s, by making available its vast database cataloguing the Iraq dictator's alleged abuses.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/pl_afp/amnestyrightsus
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States went on the counter-attack against Amnesty International, rejecting its charges of the torture of terror suspects and criticizing its lack of help in prosecuting deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
ADVERTISEMENT
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed allegations by the Nobel Prize-winning rights group, which cited reports that US prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and elsewhere were subject to "torture and ill-treatment."
"Nobody is being tortured at Guantanamo Bay," McCormack told reporters when asked about the charges in Amnesty International's latest annual report.
He went on to point out Amnesty's role in documenting rights abuses during the 24 years of Saddam's rule before he was deposed by the Americans in 2003 and later captured and charged with crimes against humanity.
"But when it came time to put Saddam Hussein on trial, which is happening right now, they (Amnesty) are absent. They've done zero, zip, nothing, to assist in those efforts," McCormack said.
"So in terms of where they might focus some of their efforts, I would just offer the humble suggestion that they might follow through in actually assisting with or providing some support to this trial for what they acknowledge is one of the great human rights abusers of recent times."
McCormack said Amnesty could help the Iraqi authorities, currently trying Saddam for a massacre of Shiite villagers in the 1980s, by making available its vast database cataloguing the Iraq dictator's alleged abuses.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060523/pl_afp/amnestyrightsus
